2015 NCAA Convention News

Meghan O’Leary competed in volleyball and softball at the University of Virginia. But when her competitive fire remained lit after college, she relied on those collegiate experiences as she found a new path to the Olympics in a new sport: rowing.

Collecting and analyzing data, and then using those data to make informed decisions, is central to what we do at the Sport Science Institute. The Sport Science Institute also works closely with the research department at the NCAA research...

Bellarmine received the Division II Award of Excellence after the athletics department allowed a young cancer patient, 15-year-old Patrick McSweeney, to start for its men’s basketball team against Louisville.

Division II delegates gave a resounding vote Saturday in favor of allowing schools to provide student-athletes with unlimited meals and snacks as well as team entertainment incidental to their athletics participation.

Division II schools can continue to hire and employ athletics directors who also serve as coaches after members attending the Division II business session at the NCAA Convention narrowly defeated a proposal to phase out the dual role.

During its meeting Saturday in conjunction with the 2015 NCAA Convention outside Washington, D.C., the Division I Board of Directors began conversations about how it should operate, with an eye toward becoming a more strategic body that defines the vision for Division I.

A proposal that would have permitted contact during the football’s spring nontraditional segment was narrowly defeated, with 51.8 percent voting against the proposal, after the lengthiest debate of Saturday’s 2015 Division III Business Session.

Division II and Division III membership approved sand volleyball as a championship Saturday at the 2015 NCAA Convention, allowing it to advance from the emerging sports for women list to become a full-fledged NCAA championship in spring 2016.

Mannie Jackson considers one of his seemingly minor accomplishments his most monumental: He was elected team captain on the University of Illinois basketball team during the 1959-60 season, his senior year. Jackson didn’t want to accept the mantle, yearning to focus only on what transpired on the court. But his father implored him to embrace his first opportunity to be a leader.

At its first meeting, the Division I Council began to identify its priorities for its first year of work and discussed how those priorities will influence the design and construction of a supporting substructure.

Roderick McDavis, chair of the Division I Committee on Academics and president of Ohio University, discusses the first meeting of the new committee and what the immediate future holds. When should the NCAA get involved in academic...

At Friday’s Division III issues forum, members indicated that in order to address projected budget shortfalls, they would be comfortable paying higher NCAA membership dues and would favor further championships policy changes over limiting...

NCAA President Mark Emmert on Thursday night called upon leaders in college sports to rise to the challenge of escorting it through “one of the most important moments in its history,” noting that the next three or four years could define intercollegiate athletics for decades to come.

During Saturday’s Division III business session, the council will make a motion to refer a legislative proposal that would reduce the maximum number of contests and dates of competition in select sports by up to 10 percent back through the division’s legislative process in lieu of a membership vote.

The Presidents Council easily approved emergency legislation requiring all incoming Division II student-athletes to receive a medical evaluation before they can begin summer workouts on campus. Returning student-athletes must have a medical exam or medical history on file.

Kendall Spencer looked back on his high school days on Thursday and saw the potential he had, which needed only a little longer to blossom. Now a two-time All-American track and field standout in the long jump at the University of New Mexico, athletics provided the opportunity he needed, Spencer said during the Keynote Luncheon at the 2015 NCAA Convention.